


Rear Window

by agrajag



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 13:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20471483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: If you had asked Eli a week ago if he had ever broken a bone, he would have laughed and replied that no, he hadn't, and he was never going to. He was an indoor kid and always had been.From the tips of his toes to halfway up his thigh, he ended up covered in plaster.He was starting to go stir crazy.





	Rear Window

**Author's Note:**

> i broke my ankle, i'm confined to my bed, and a family friend told me to not go all hitchcock on everyone
> 
> so now you get this story lol
> 
> sort of an AU this would take place before the events of trollhunters or maybe very early on in the first season

If you had asked Eli a week ago if he had ever broken a bone, he would have laughed and replied that no, he hadn't, and he was never going to. He was an indoor kid and always had been. He had never jumped out of a tree or skate boarded down a railing or played football. He had thought he was safe with his chess club and monster movies -- and he had been, in a sense.

They had put a target on his back, however, and he was bullied for being different than the other boys. It had started out as just teasing, which he could handle, but by sixth grade, he was being pushed around. He even fell over a few times that year. Headlocks, shoulder punches, and the like had quickly become his life by the time they reached high school. And now, at fifteen, one of his bullies finally took it too far.

Tyler, a member of the football team, although Eli couldn't tell you which position, had punched Eli in the face. His glasses had gone flying, and Eli ended up on his hands and knees searching for them. He hadn't realized he was crawling straight toward the staircase, but Tyler clearly did. He snuck up behind Eli, planted his foot firmly on his back, and kicked him down the stairs.

Thankfully he was expelled for what he did, but that wasn't going to change the fact that Eli had broken his leg during the fall.

From the tips of his toes to halfway up his thigh, he ended up covered in plaster. He had no idea how annoying it was to not be able to move his leg, but at least the doctor had allowed him to get his cast in glow in the dark green. It looked super cool, but the lone signature (his mom's) on the vast space available kind of took away from the coolness factor.

The doctor's office gave him a pair of crutches, but it was far too difficult for him to walk anywhere farther than a trip to the bathroom, so he was going to miss school until it healed. His mom had called Mrs. Lake to ask if Jim could bring his homework over once a week, and then that was that.

Eli was essentially left to his own devices. His mom was at work all day (and, honestly, most of the night) and he saw Jim for a couple minutes once a week on Friday. (Who, thankfully, added his signature to Eli's cast.) The rest of the time, he was completely alone.

At first, it had almost seemed like paradise to an introvert like himself, but it didn't take long for him to watch enough movies and read enough books to find out that there can be too much of a good thing.

He was starting to go stir crazy.

He didn't have anyone he would necessarily call a "close" friend, but he needed someone to talk to. Not even to talk to. He needed human interaction, even if it was only passing his fellow students as they walked from class to class.

It was completely by accident that he noticed how close he and Steve Palchuk's bedroom windows were. He never had any reason to look over there before, after all. Steve was another one of his bullies, although he had never been as bad as Tyler. Sure, he'd shove Eli in a locker but he wasn't about to shove him down the stairs. Either way, that didn't mean he wanted to spy on Steve. He had been trying to use his telescope to find constellations (and maybe a UFO if he was super lucky) but it was basically impossible from his window.

He had been angling the telescope down so he could place it back in its corner when he caught a glimpse of Steve shouting at someone.

He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. He looked through the telescope again, Steve's red face in high definition. He was waving his arms around and pacing his room as he yelled, and it almost looked like a dance. Eli adjusted the telescope so he could see if it was Mrs. Palchuk or Coach that Steve was fighting with, but was surprised when there was no one else in the room.

Well, people talked to themselves all the time (if not so passionately). It didn't mean anything.

But then he paused for a moment, and looked as if he was listening to someone, before he shook his head in defeat. He started to talk again, not as animated this time, and Eli quickly shoved the telescope away and scooted his chair back over to his desk where he wouldn't be able to see Steve (or vice versa).

Okay, so most likely, Steve was honestly just talking to himself. Even if it was more like having a full blown conversation with himself. But then there was also the possibility ------ that Steve was talking to someone who was invisible!

Eli grabbed his crutches from where he had propped them up against the wall and walked over to his Creep Board. He had been studying the things that go bump in the night in Arcadia for awhile. He hadn't come across any evidence of something invisible, but then again, if it was invisible, could you blame him? They probably left no trail! It seemed the only way he was going to be able to gather any information was to continue observing Steve.

He felt a little bad about it, but only for a moment. Call it payback for every shove, every taunt, every name he was called.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day One

Eli hadn't put the telescope back the previous night, so all he had to do was move it back into the optimal position, and wait.

And wait.

It was a school day, so there wasn't much to observe. His sleep schedule had been completely messed up during the two weeks he'd already been confined to his room, so he wasn't awake when Steve had woken up and gotten ready for school. Eli did keep checking every once in awhile, just in case the invisible creature (if there was an invisible creature) made itself known in some way.

Otherwise, he spent most of his day playing online chess while B Movie Monsters, his favorite band, played in the background. Somehow he managed to lose track of time, and next thing he knew, Jim was calling him.

"Happy Friday, Eli," he said, cheerfully. "I'm here with your homework... and some crumpets I made last night. They're raspberry."

Oh, flip.

If Jim was at Eli's house, then that meant Steve would be...

Eli quickly pushed his desk chair over to the window and peered through the telescope.

Strange. No sign of Steve.

"That sounds delicious," he said, as if he was on autopilot. "Sorry." He shook his head. "I'll be down as soon as I can."

"I know it'll take you a bit to navigate the stairs. No worries. Take your time."

Eli made it to the top of the staircase easy enough. He had finally gotten the hang of walking with the crutches, but he was still terrified of going down the stairs. Since he had come home from the doctor, he had only had to do it twice -- both times being when Jim had come to deliver his homework. He would have just sat down and made his way downstairs the way he used to when he was younger, but with the cast, he couldn't bend his leg enough to do so.

Eli took a deep breath, set the crutches on the first stair, and after counting to three (okay, he had to count down twice) he jumped down. He wobbled for a moment but regained his balance like a pro. He was getting better at this.

Still took him about ten minutes to get downstairs when it would normally take seconds.

He was never going to take walking for granted ever again.

Jim was waiting on the porch, halfway through one of his crumpets.

"Hey, man," he said, crumbs flying everywhere. "Want to have one now? Hang out here for a bit and get some fresh air?"

"Oh, normally I'd say yes, but I'm, uh, in the middle of a new project. I can't really talk too long."

"Oh, okay. Sure thing."

Jim took Eli's homework and the tupperware up to his room, waiting for Eli to catch up, and said goodbye with a promise to "lock the door behind me." It hadn't taken him as long to go up the stairs since it wasn't as scary, but Eli still felt like he had been gone too long.

He immediately plopped himself in his desk chair and checked Steve's room as he stuffed a crumpet in his mouth.

There was still no sign of him.

Huh.

Eli was sure the football team didn't practice on Fridays. Well, maybe their schedule had changed.

Eli went back to another round of online chess but continued to check every five or six moves to see if Steve had come home.  
Finally, around six, Eli noticed the light in Steve's room flicking on.

He licked the crumbs of the last crumpet from his fingers as he grabbed the telescope. Steve didn't look as angry as he had been the night before. In fact, he almost looked... relieved.He threw his backpack on the floor before sitting down gently on his bed. He clasped his hands together, twiddling his thumbs, and started talking.

With a gasp, Eli grabbed his notebook and phone so he could document everything.

He didn't really end up needing them, however. It didn't look like Steve was maintaining eye contact with any particular spot. In fact, he spent a lot of time staring at the floor. Eli definitely had jumped to conclusions the previous night, hadn't he? But perhaps it wasn't relief that Steve was feeling. Perhaps he was nervous, which would explain him constantly averting his gaze. Yes, that had to be it. Things were still tense between him and the invisible creature and so he was having a hard time looking at it while they were talking.

About five minutes later, Steve sighed, and fell back onto his mattress. Eli kept watching for a little longer in case anything else happened, but it appeared Steve had fallen asleep.

Sleep.

Now that was a good idea, Eli thought, as his eyelids began to droop.

Day Two

Saturday.

An entire day for Steve to slip up.

Eli's mom brought up breakfast and frowned when she saw Eli parked in front of the telescope in the morning.

"Oh, honey. You know it's not nice to spy on the neighbors."

"I wasn't... I was, uh..." Eli glanced down at the plate, at the scrambled eggs his mom had made for him. "Watching the birds. They're really fascinating."

"Oh, I'm sure," his mom said with a smug smile. Eli didn't like it. "Hey, how about we go out today? We can go to the deli for lunch and then maybe to see a movie?"

"I don't know," Eli said, eyes turning back toward Steve's house for a second. "Yeah, I'm better with the crutches, but I don't think I can be out walking a lot. It's far too much more than going down the hallway. No, I should probably just stay home."

"I'll drop you off at the door if we can't find a good parking spot." Oh no. She was not going to take no for an answer. "Come on, Eli. It'll be fun."

"Okay. Yeah. Sounds fun."

His mom leaned over to ruffle his hair.

"Alright. Eat up and then I can help you get in the shower."

"Moooooom," Eli whined, fork frozen halfway to his mouth.

"Well, honey. We can't have you slipping and falling, now can we?"

Eli groaned but relented so he could start in on his eggs. His mom ruffled his hair once more before leaving his room and he used the chance to sneak looks through the telescope in between bites. Steve was up and eating his breakfast as well -- a breakfast burrito from Stu's, it looked like. He was sitting at his desk, staring intensely at his computer.

He was clearly distracted. At one point, he was trying to take a bite when he wasn't paying attention to his food, completely focused on whatever was on his computer screen, and the inside of his burrito fell onto his keyboard. Eli laughed at first but stopped when Steve didn't even seem to notice. The mixture of eggs and cheese and salsa weren't on the arrow keys, so he was able to keep on reading without it getting in his way.What could he possibly be reading that he was so engrossed in?

'How to take care of your invisible friend?' a voice in the back of his mind helpfully suggested.  
He didn't have much more time to think about it, though. He had finished his breakfast, and his mom was right. He did need a shower.

So, Eli took a shower and he and his mom went downtown. They spent some time in the park, went to the deli for lunch, and then to the movies where his mom let him pick the movie. They got chocolate and popcorn with extra butter and a large drink for the two of them to share. While Eli's mom supported his love of all things creeps, she herself wasn't exactly big on monster movies, but she seemed to enjoy the movie as much as he did.

Eli almost hated to admit it, but honestly? He didn't. The day out with his mom was just what he needed. He made sure to give her a big hug (although it was a little difficult while trying to balance on one leg) when they got home.

He had almost completely forgotten about Steve by the time he had made his way back to his room and only remembered when he saw the telescope set up at the window. He rushed over as best as he could on the crutches and peered through.

Unfortunately, the lights were off and it looked like Steve had already crawled into bed.

Eli watched for a couple more minutes in case the invisible creature, who knows, moved a curtain or something? But there was no movement of any kind.

Once Eli started yawning, he figured that the day had taken a bit of a toll on him, and he should call it a night as well. He wheeled his desk chair over to his bed and simply slid from the one to the other and, before he knew it, he was out like a light.

Day Three

Eli was woken up by the sun shining directly into his face. Sure, with the set up at the window he was unable to close the shades, but it hadn't been a problem the previous two mornings. Normally the sun didn't reach his bed until the early afternoon.

Oh no! He must have slept in!

Eli bolted up, wincing as his cast bumped up against the wall, and looked at his alarm clock.

It was 12:41!

He hadn't been setting said alarm clock since he didn't have to worry about keeping a particular schedule, but he hadn't slept in that late in the entire time he had been out of school. He thought he wouldn't have needed it.

He pushed himself up so he was sitting and reached over so he could pull the telescope closer. The view of Steve's room from that position wouldn't have been ideal, but surprisingly having his eye on the far wall proved to be beneficial at the moment.

Steve was balancing precariously on a chair so he could pin something up. It wasn't large enough to cover the entire wall, which was entirely bare, so Eli had trouble making it out at first. But then Steve leaned back to observe his handiwork and Eli would know those colors anywhere.

It was a little bisexual pride flag.

Eli fell back against the pillows.

Steve was bisexual?

Well, he had to be, right? Even the most supportive allies wouldn't hang a bisexual pride flag in their room. Maybe the rainbow flag, but something so specific was a little odd, right?

And then that's when Eli finally started to put it all together. He went through a very similar meltdown to Steve's on Thursday when he was first coming to terms with his own sexuality. And Fridays after school -- that's when they had the GSA meetings.

It had been wishful thinking there was an invisible creature in Arcadia. Perhaps he should spend a little less time speculating about creeps and find a few other hobbies. He did have his chess but perhaps something that would get him out of the house every once in awhile.

Once he could easily get out of the house, that is.

He could join the GSA. He had thought about it when he had first realized he was gay. Though he wasn't sure how that'd go if Steve decided to join for good. He probably wouldn't be too happy about Eli being there.

Eli glanced through the telescope one last time and started blushing.

Steve had pulled off his shirt and had started doing push ups.

Okay, yeah, time to stop spying on the neighbors.

Day Four

The following morning, Eli was brought out of a rather lovely dream about Steve (which he wasn't going to question. He was just going to go with it) by a knock at his door. That was strange, since his mom usually had no trouble letting herself in without warning. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before putting his glasses on.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice sounding scratchy. He should probably drink some more water, but he was tired of getting up more than one or two times a day to make his way down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Hey, honey," his mom said as she stuck her head in. "Your friend is here to see you."

"Jim? But he just dropped off my homework on Friday."

"Not Jim," an all too familiar voice said.

Eli's mom opened the door the rest of the way and Steve -- flipping Steve Palchuk -- walked into Eli's room. He had his backpack on and, while his face looked as smug as it always did, he was fiddling with the straps. Panicking, Eli quickly pulled his comforter up with one hand so Steve couldn't see the kiddie cartoon tee that he wore to bed and with the other hand tried to smooth down his unruly hair.

"Oh, uh, hi Steve."

"I'll leave you two to talk. I need to head out. Steve, would you mind making sure to lock the door behind you when you leave?"

"Of course Mrs. Pepperjack," Steve said, all smiles. A stark contrast to the Steve that Eli knew from school. Once Eli's mom had left, he turned back to Eli, still smiling. "So, Pepperjack. Have you been enjoying the Steve Show?"

"What?"

"Did you really think I couldn't notice the giant telescope in the window? It's not exactly subtle. Especially in broad daylight."

"Oh God," Eli groaned. He buried his face in the comforter and waited for Steve to make his move. But the punch never came. "Why are you just standing there? Aren't you mad?"

"I mean, I'm a little mad, but I mean, you just saw me working out. Big deal. I do that in front of the team all the time. I'm just here to tell you to not make a habit out of it."

Just working out? So Steve didn't know that Eli had been watching him since Thursday. That was a relief. Eli knew that being accidentally outed, no matter the circumstances, was honestly the worst feeling. Eli already felt awful enough that he had violated Steve's privacy like that. He wasn't going to ruin Steve's day by telling him that he had seen the flag. He obviously wasn't ready to tell other people about it.

"Yeah, no. Of course. It won't happen again, Steve. I'm so sorry that I did it in the first place. I'm just... I think I'm starting to go a little crazy cooped up in here."

"Maybe you just need some company?" Steve suggested. "I'm not doing anything after school today. I can come over and we can do our homework together."

Was Eli still dreaming? Steve wanted to hang out with him? He couldn't believe it, but he wasn't about to let this opportunity pass.

"Yes! I mean, yes," he repeated, quieter, once he realized he had shouted. "I would like that a lot."

"Cool. I'd like it a lot too." Steve was blushing slightly, and Eli allowed himself to pretend this dream was a reality. "Alright, well, I'll see you later, Pepperjack."

Steve left, and it felt like Eli didn't breathe until he heard the front door close behind him. Steve deciding to hang out with him was not the outcome he would have predicted when he started watching Steve, but it was definitely the best possible outcome from such a awkward situation. It would be nice to have someone besides his mom and Jim to talk to. Eli pushed his comforter away and looked down at the bright green plaster.

Huh.

Maybe he could even ask Steve if he'd like to sign his cast.


End file.
